Cosmology (from the Greek , kosmos "world" and -, -logia "study of") is the study of

the origin, evolution, and eventual fate of the universe. Physical cosmology is the scholarly and
scientific study of the origin, large-scale structures and dynamics, and ultimate fate of the universe,
as well as the scientific laws that govern these realities.[2]
The term cosmology was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's Glossographia,[3] and in
1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher Christian Wolff, in Cosmologia Generalis.[4]
Religious or mythological cosmology is a body of beliefs based on mythological, religious,
and esoteric literature and traditions of creation and eschatology.
Physical cosmology is studied by scientists, such as astronomers and physicists, as well
as philosophers, such as metaphysicians, philosophers of physics, and philosophers of space and
time. Because of this shared scope with philosophy, theories in physical cosmology may include
both scientific and non-scientific propositions, and may depend upon assumptions that can not
be tested. Cosmology differs from astronomy in that the former is concerned with the Universe as a
whole while the latter deals with individual celestial objects. Modern physical cosmology is
dominated by the Big Bang theory, which attempts to bring together observational
astronomy and particle physics;[5] more specifically, a standard parameterization of the Big Bang
with dark matter and dark energy, known as the Lambda-CDM model.
Theoretical astrophysicist David N. Spergel has described cosmology as a "historical science"
because "when we look out in space, we look back in time" due to the finite nature of the speed of
light.[6]